Survival Exam(1)

"Examinees! I'm Professor Jin. The last exam is testing your ability to survive in the wildlife."

Professor Jin is a short man with curly red hair. He has round glasses and he's wearing a black choker. He's also wearing an earring in his left ear.

"Now-" he snapped his fingers and suddenly a small bag appeared in front of the examinees.

"Here are the rules. Aside from surviving, each person have a target that they need to take their badges and hand it over to a personnel in the Checkpoints." he grinned mischievously. "Be careful~ You might be too focus on your target that you became one."

His words added oil to fire. The examinees who were already nervous enough, became paler.

"Without your badge, even if you manage to get your target's, it wouldn't be counted. If you manage to hand your target's badge, you still won't be able to leave until the allotted time." he pushed his glasses up. "You have to survive in the remaining time."

"The bag have basic rations, a bottle of water and one piece of bread. You have seven hours before the exam finished."

A huge timer emerged above Jin's head. It has glaring red numbers.

[7:00:00]

Before they could even react, a huge pit instantly swallowed them, pulling their bodies down.

"Eh?"

"Examinees! Do your best to survive."

The last thing they saw, was Professor Jin's smiling figure. Before everything went black.

***

Liam slowly opened his eyes. The sunlight made him squint a little.

"You're awake."

He instantly rolled away, with his hand on the sword, he almost unsheathe it until he saw the man's face.

Liam frowned. "Lorthon..."

Lorthon smiled warmly at him. IBM. "Do you feel uncomfortable somewhere?"

He shrugged. "Not really."

Liam stood up and tapped the other's shoulder. "How about you?"

Lorthon just smiled at him. "I'm also fine--"

Click- Thud-!

"Eh?"

The sword was unsheathed and slashed Lorthon's head mercilessly. The head fell down to the ground with a thud before slowly turning into dust.

Liam remebered the exam in the novel.

<When they first wake up, a clone of the person they're close with will show up. If the person didn't get rid of them, the clones will kill them and take away their badge. Thus, eliminated.>

He knew this but still tested the 'Lorthon' in front of him, in case it really turn out to be Lorthon.

"Lorthon would have been flustered." the Lorthon that he know will get embarrassed by physical touch. He'll get flustered and blushed.

Liam finally had a chance to look at his surroundings. It's a tropical forest.

The three were like twenty-story buildings, a single branch can definitely kill him.

Liam took out his badge and input his mana in it. His target's number is 35, Raiven Arthur.

In this test, there's one thing he's sure of. That, he, an extra, wouldn't meet the main characters. That's the law of the world. So he can peacefully complete this test-

Click- Slash-!

The sword that was just sheathed was draw to slash the incoming arrow into half. The thin blade cut the arrow from the tip to the bottom.

He heard a whistle but he can't determine which direction did it came from.

Although the trees are extraordinarily high, there are also medium size trees and bushes examinees can use to hide.

This kind of dense trees and bushes are definitely favorable to long-range examinees.

Swoosh-

Liam pulled his head back when an arrow almost graze his eyes. The silver arrow strucked the ground firmly. Before he could sigh in relief, the arrow started to vibrate.

It dig deeper to the ground.

'Danger!'

As he immediately jumped high, the ground cracked.

Boom-!

A crater formed in the ground.

"...!" What the fuck! If that had hit him, a hole would have formed in his body.

Mid-air an arrow from behind were about to hit him, he immediately activate his skill <Boulder Shell> to cover his head.

The tough skin succesfully blocked the arrow, however he still felt the impact and his body tilted upside down.

'Gifted eyes!'

His eyes shone brightly as the time seem to slow down, his eyes caught sight a person in one of the trees running quickly. His figure seemed to be melting in the surroundings.

The person is wearing a black cloak which covers half of his face.

Liam's body continue to fall, however, before he completely fell he covered his whole body with boulder shell.

BOOM-!

Smoke and dust rose in the air. The cloaked-examinee couldn't clearly see what happened from afar.

This person is Dianne James, her target is Liam. She waited for the dust to settle and for the smoke to disappear.

Dianne narrowed her eyes when she saw Liam's figure. He doesn't seem to be injured but he's unconscious.

If a person fall from that height they can really fell unconscious, or worse die. However, this doesn't apply to awakened. They have stronger bodies and durability than normal people. There's also mana that can easily protect them.

Awakened have a lot of things hidden in theor sleeves that can save them from critical moments.

So this, mist be a trap!

***

"I wonder where Liam is righr now..." Lorthon sighed.

When he woke up earlier, he was delighted to see Liam sitting not far from him. He thought he must have wake up first and waited for him.

However, after talking for him for a few minutes, he realized that this 'Liam' must be fake. It must only ne an illusion or a clone and a part of the exam. Even so, he was unable to kill it until it tried to kill him.

He have no choice but to get rid of it. After that he encountered a lot of things.

In the duration of his stay in the forest, he realized that he should always be on guard and alert.

Lorthon had killed countless beasts and avoid traps that will occasionally appeared. He need to be careful and watch every step or he'll be eliminated before he know it.

And he can tell that this is the 'easy mode' since a day hasn't even passed yet.

There's also some examinee who will cause trouble for him. He almost lost his bag numerous times.

The bag was small but he put all of his food in it. He never touch the bread and water given to them. Some edible fruits that he found was also in there. If he lost it, he might die from starvation.

Lorthon quickly ducked and dun towards the nearest tree. There's a group of people not far from him. Atleast five people.

His face turned serious, the most logical thing was to run away.

[Skill <Master Elementalist> activated!]

Wind started to quietly cover his body. He wanted to fly away from here. However, before he could do that. an upside down face suddenly appeared in his vision.

"...!!!"

"Hi~"

Out of reflex, Lorthon sent wind blades to attack the examinee. Shoot! Before he could worry about that person, a blade was place against his neck.

The examinee easily avoided the wind blade. He now just realized that this person has a pair of angel wings in his back.

She have long curly blond hair and blue eyes. Wearing white overalls. If an angel were to come down, it would definitely look like this.

Lorthon was in a daze as he watched the person fly in the sky, like a holy figure. However, he was brought back to reality when he suddenly felt pain in his neck.

The wound isn't fatal but only a small graze, but blood drip from it. He was startled and look at the woman behind him.

It's a woman with blue hair smirking at him. "Don't get distracted."

He frowned before glancing back at the 'angelic' woman. Is that a skill? He was fascinated to her and wanted to devote his whole life to her. As if she's a Goddess.

Besides, this person seem familiar.

"Hello, Lorthon Wayne. I'm Angelina Castillo." she kindly smiled at him.

Lorthon was shocked when he heard her introduce herself.

Angelina Castillo?! She's a descendant of a first generation and a member of the seven legendary heroes, Angelo Castillo!

Her father is the current chairman of the Hero Association.

"Do you need anything from me?" he asked curiously, his guard already down.

"First, Kierra remove your blade. And all of you, be courteous and come here beside me." her voice is as gentle as she look.

Although there's someone who he found prettier than her (Brittany). But this kind of looks will make people kneel and confessed their sins.

Numerous people appeared beside her as the woman behind him also remove her blade. She confidently walked passed him and stand beside her companions.

There are six of them. Two of them have the same face, the angelic woman, a dark-skinned guy, a long-haired guy, and a small girl.

All of them is atleast in the same rank as him.

"We teamed up temporarily for this test. Everyone, introduce yourself."

"I-I'm Ronna." -small girl(shy).

"Eugene." -long-haired guy(cold).

"I'm Xenon! Nice to meet you." -dark-skinned guy(cheerful).

"I'm Keziah." -blue-haired girl no. 2(normal).

"Kierra." -blue-haired girl no. 1(confident).

"And yes, we're twins." Kierra added with a smile. She's the one who put a blade on his neck.

He subconsciously touched his neck. Seeing this, Kierra grinned wider. Her whole body screamed arrogance.

"We didn't mean to harm you. Come here." Angelina extended her hand to him.

As if enchanted, Lorthon calmly walked towards her. He was about to placed his hand over her when a shout broke him out of his daze.

"Lorthon!"

"...!!!" He seemed to have waken up from a dream. The mist in his head cleared up, his face brightened.

Without hesistation, he turned his head to face Liam's figure not far away.

"Liam!" he run towards him and waved excitedly.

"I miss you!"

***